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stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

ADB-IST 8Q-151 Onur Air
(0830-0930) = 1:00 320 TC-OBO
We got to the airport early enough, just about beat the morning traffic.
Very new modern terminal.

Found a nice restaurant (good view) ..... food could have been a tad more interesting tho. Basically I wanted an almond croissant and they only had plain/cheese/chocolate.

Not much activity going on outside, our aircraft rolled in.

Not much to say, it was a quick uneventful flight. 5 minutes early and buy on board.
I noticed on all the Turkish domestic flights they made a PA asking passengers to switch off all electronic devices ..... which included ipods, phones in airplane mode etc. That was kinda strange, I figured most countries had changed that rule?
Bags took a while to come out in IST.

IST-LJU TK-1061 Turkish Airlines
(1225-1340) = 2:15 320 TC-JPT
Had some time to kill at the airport around 3 hours. Got our luggage and checked it was a 10 mins walk maybe to the TK check in area. Got our boarding passes then R was hungry so we had a snack. I was looking forward to the TK lunch Smile

Guess the airline in IST ...

Good legroom, drop down screens.
Food was good. Salad was tomatoes and mozzarella (one of my favourites) with a lemon/olive oil dressing.
Turkey sandwich was crunchy and nice. I had the sour cherry drink saw that a lot in Turkey.
Sat next to a friendly elder gentleman. He lives in Houston but originally from Ljubljana he flew the long way thru IST because according to him TK was consistently cheaper than the other big airlines.

Tiny customs area (tiny airport in fact). It took a while because there were just 2 counters so the bags were already on the belt. Arrivals hall was the smallest I had seen in a while- you walk out and there's barely any space. They had a tourist information and a coffee stall. We got a city map from the tourist counter and asked them what the best way to get into town was they said a good option is to take a shuttle which drops you to the hotel. Just 5 steps outside was the shuttle area, you tell the driver the hotel name and the price is fixed per person. there were 5 of us in the shuttle we were the last drop, but it was alot cheaper than taking a taxi.

We spent 3 days in Ljubljana (the capital), what a wonderful place! I absolutely loved it, it had that small European charm and wasn't crowded at all. the city was tiny! Apparently the city has 260,000 people out of which 50,000 are students Shocked

Very small city, we picked a hotel in the old town city center so everything was walking distance.
We did 2 day trips, one with a guide to Predjama castle and Postojna caves and another day we took a bus to Lake Bled (around an hour+ away)

Predjama castle and Postojna caves

The caves were something else, the lowest point we reached was 120 meters below ground. They were formed by a river running underground and there are many tunnels/caves in the area.

Lake Bled. It was a 15 mins walk from our hotel to the city bus station and a 1:25 drive there (non direct bus route). On the way back we took a shared 10 seater which was a bit cheaper and took :50 mins
There was a castle on a hill right beside the lake so we walked up there... didn't really want to pay to get in so we hung around enjoying the view then went back down. There was a chateau of some sort on a small island in the middle of the lake, they had small boats to get there. I wanted to get one of those paddle boats and get there ourselves but after all our time wasting and roaming around we didn't have time.

Bled custard cream cake which was famous/speciality I guess. It was OK, I would have been happier with more custard and less cream.

Ljubljana city pictures, city castle + night walking tour. Just our luck they have a food market once a week and we were there for that.
They had a public charging point for electric cars (first time I have seen a Tesla outside America....)

Looking up at the Ljubljana castle.

Looking down from the Ljubljana castle.

As I mentioned they had this farmers market + food market once a week from lunchtime till dinner (11 till 2000?) It was a lot of fun. They had music playing and the different smells + drinks + sitting around with pets running around etc. Towards the end it got a tad bit dirty but overall was clean and a great atmosphere.

I had some sort of sausage for lunch which was very nice. R had Argentinian steak pieces of some sort. We were so happy with the atmosphere we went back for dinner. Desert was some sort of pancake and a chocolate cake.
Salt and pepper shakers were switched everywhere in Slovenia .... almost ruined a few meals Laughing

LJU-PRG JP-568 Adria Airways
(1135-1255) = 1:20 Crj-200 S5-AAD
Planning our way back was a bit last minute but couldn't be helped. 1) I wanted to fly Adria and 2) had to connect to an EK flight.

Booked one of those shared shuttles to the airport, the pickup spot was 1 mins away from our hotel. The flight was on time, lots of room there were 19 ppl on board.
Announcements in Slovene and English. Single crew and a very smiley lady. Buy on board menu.
I haven't been in a CRJ since 2006/2007 I guess and it felt strange to be sitting so low to the ground.

Takeoff from runway 12, great view on the climb out.

Smallish airline, 181 flights a week or 26 a day. from LJU to 17 destinations.
3x 319/320.... 6x CRJ900 ...2x CRJ200 all aircrafts are all economy.

We pushed 10 mins early and were at the gate 25 mins early .... Just an hour in the air.

Prague arrival screen had a 9w-6812? from CDG 😜
I forgot they don't use Euros in the Czech Republic ..... they would take euros at the airport but give change back in Koruna (which was a hassle so I used my credit card)
Arrived in terminal 1 and was a short 5 minute walk to terminal 2.

PRG-DXB EK-140 Emirates
(1545-2345) = 6:00 77W A6-ECB

Had some time to kill after check in. The Formula 1 Russian grand prix was on but I couldn't find a restaurant or something playing it, didn't matter too much I went to the observation deck.
Nice airport map to tell you where you are and where you're looking.

There wasn't a whole lot happening on this side unfortunately.

Found this small airport exhibition info area? Had info on the airport history + layout + runway expansion plans etc.

How to distinguish the main aircraft types, very nice Smile

It was time to go home.

Thanks a lot for reading everyone.
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jbalonso777 · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:55 pm Post subject:

Nice, fantastic second part! Very Happy

Loved the pictures a lot, thanks for sharing this unique one with us!

Hmm, the guess the airline...
I'll put my money on...9W 77W in TK colors? Rolling Eyes

Superb shots from the Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves, loved that stalagmite photograph!

Nice info about planes in PRG! I know one newspaper publisher in India who might want to place that in their office(s). Laughing

Looking forward to more!

Regards
Jish
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Once again Sir...lovely aviation pictures, lovely tourist destination pictures, and lovely food pictures, with the exoticity quotient thrown in. A typical stealthpilot trip report! Thank you very much for taking the time off from a very busy schedule (and some really innovative vacation planning!) to share these experiences with us. As Jishnu mentioned above, lovely pictures of the castle, the cave, and the `tites and the `mites! It was ncie to see the observation area at PRG: does this have any restrictions/entrance fees etc? This looks quite inviting, though unfortunately, you did not have much traffic to click. Your EK food pictures always entice me to no end!
Cheers, Sumantra.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Brilliant .... absolutely stunning pictures ... enjoyed your TR and pictures thoroughly.

Nikhil where is your next vacation?

BTW you can drop by my cabin anytime, not necessarily just while checking flight loads Razz

rakesh959 · Member Joined: 28 Aug 2012 Posts: 58 Location: Chennai

Awesome TR Nikhil.Splendid pictures too!Enjoyed reading it!Thanks for posting such a wonderful TR!

Cheers!
Rakesh.

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:18 pm Post subject:

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

Simply stunning Nikhil, makes me want to put it on my to do list, and they have you to thank

Karan

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Terrific report Nikhil!
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PAL@YWG · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:07 am Post subject:

Excellent TR, Stealthpilot!
I was waiting for Slovenia part since that is another best kept secret besides Croatia! Your pictures do proper justice to Ljubljana, the Capital.

Turkey, Slovenia, Prague (assuming you were in transit) are too many gems in a single trip!

Izmir airport is impressive also got to know more about Onur air, spotted them few times during my trip to Turkey but didn't know where/aircraft types they fly.

My son got excited about spotting a Tesla in your TR!

Norwegian Fjords next ? Very Happy

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Nimish · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:54 am Post subject:

Great TR - thanks for sharing!

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB